Time after time, p.16
Time After Time, page 16
“She’s always been a star to me.” He sighed and leaned back, giving me a better view of the photo. “It was the day we bought the farm after so much hard work. Everything felt tough back then, but that day, it was like life was finally smiling at us.”
Before I could ask about the story behind the photograph, the front door swung open, and Aria stepped out, carrying a tray with three steaming cups. She placed the tray on a small wooden table with care, then disappeared back inside. A few minutes later, she returned with a blanket, draping it gently around her grandfather’s shoulders, and a pair of slippers, which she slipped on after drying his feet with another towel. I excused myself to the bathroom to dry off, feeling like they needed to be on their own.
In the bathroom, I decided to call Sebastian, fully expecting to hear his voicemail given the parade outside. To my surprise, he answered after just two rings. “Gen? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s okay,” I hurriedly replied before letting out a sigh.
“Are you sure? Did something happen?” Concern laced his voice.
I faced my reflection in the mirror, blinking rapidly as a shiver coursed through me, leaving a hollow sensation in its wake. “I think...” I paused, taking a deep breath to compose my voice against the rising emotional tide. “I just needed to hear your voice, to talk to you.”
Silence stretched on Sebastian’s end of the line, punctuated by distant sobs and the strains of the procession’s mournful piano music. “I needed to hear yours, too,” he finally answered. I nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see me through a phone call. “I’ll be there in about two hours, okay?”
“I will be waiting.”
Once we hung up, I sighed, hands resting on the bathroom counter and blinking rapidly, not wanting to cry in front of either Mr. Marley or Aria. It wasn’t fair to them, not when they were already going through so much. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face, rubbing it harshly with my hands. There was no towel, so I patted my face dry with toilet paper.
When I stepped back outside, I worried I could interrupt an important moment. But my worries faded when I saw Aria in my previous spot, now sitting next to her grandfather. They were wrapped in a shared blanket, their tears blending with the rain.
Sniffling, I settled in front of them and reached for one of the steaming cups.
As I took a sip, the heat spread through me, but no warmth invaded me as the familiar taste of cinnamon flooded my senses, and tears filled my eyes, recognising it as Mrs. Marley’s favourite Christmas drink.
“I’m ready to hear that story.” I gestured toward the picture resting now on Aria’s lap. A faint, bittersweet smile crossed Mr. Marley’s face as he sighed at the sky, eyes glistening and roaming the vast space as if he were expecting a sign from her.
Mr. Marley shared his story. His tone was low, tranquil, but trembling. Time seemed to fade away as I listened intently, wishing I could know so much more and before I realised it, I had fallen into a much-needed sleep on the porch, wrapped in two large blankets.
“Gen,” Aria’s soft voice stirred me awake. I blinked my eyes open, glancing around the porch. Mr. Marley was gone.
“Granddad went to bed,” she continued. “I tried waking you up to come inside, but you were out cold.”
Aria sat beside me, bundled in her own blanket, her eyelids heavy with sleep. She’d stayed with me, too tired to leave.
“Sebastian’s here.”
At the mention of his name, I shot upright, nearly tangling myself in one of the blankets that pooled around my feet. Sebastian, already making his way toward the house, froze when he saw me.
I managed a small, uncertain smile, though I wasn’t sure if he noticed, then turned to Aria. “I can stay tonight if you don’t want to be alone.”
She offered a grateful smile and closed her eyes for a few moments before shaking her head. “No need.” When I didn’t move, she continued, “I appreciate you coming here. It was good for both of us, but I think now we need to be on our own for a bit.” She sniffed, her eyelids puffy. After hesitating for a moment, I stepped forward and engulfed her in a hug—one I knew she needed. She shook, clutching me tighter, before slowly pulling back.
“Hey.” Sebastian had closed the distance between us, now standing just inches away, his gaze locked on mine. His hand lifted, brushing a loose strand of hair from my cheek, but he didn’t tuck it behind my ear. Instead, he let it fall back, framing my face. “Should we head out?” he asked, his voice low, almost hesitant.
“What time is it?”
“Late,” he answered, and he was right. The sky was already lightening, the sun barely a breath away from rising. Neither of us, especially him, had got much sleep.
Without waiting for my response, he turned to Aria, his expression carefully guarded, though I caught the flicker of pity in his eyes. “You need anything?”
She shook her head again and stood up, the blanket still draped around her. “I need a good dose of sleep.”
Sebastian nodded in understanding. “Come with us to the beach tomorrow. Don’t stay cooped up here all day.” Before she could decline the offer, he continued, “Everyone in town will come to visit your grandfather. He’ll be fine. We’ll have our phones, and my mum will be here with him.” Aria hesitated, chewing her bottom lip, but then nodded, considering his words. “Good. See you then.” With a reassuring nod, Sebastian draped his arm around my shoulders, slipped the rest of the blankets off, and gently nudged me forward.
The squish of our trainers against the rain-soaked ground filled the silence as we started our walk home at a lazy pace. Sebastian had asked about Mr. Marley, so I told him how I’d found him. Talking about it made my throat tight, and I blinked back the tears before they could fall.
Just thinking about Mrs. Marley’s bright smile weighed me down. How could she have left us like that? Yesterday… she had seemed so alive, so carefree, and then, almost overnight, she was gone.
“Mrs. Bennet was deep in conversation with Mrs. Lauriel and Gonzales.” Sebastian’s hands were casually tucked into the front pockets of his denim shorts—a rare choice, since he usually preferred comfort over style. “They wouldn’t stop talking about Mrs. Marley’s health,” he added, throwing me a quick sidelong glance. With a sigh, he turned his gaze back to the road as we trudged along on our seemingly never-ending walk home. “Apparently, she’d been feeling off for months. She’d show up at the market sometimes, looking like she’d seen a ghost.”
His words caught me off guard. Mrs. Marley had seemed perfectly healthy during the days we spent with her, with no hint of anything being wrong.
I nudged a pebble out of my path with the toe of my trainer.
“I couldn’t shake it off, you know,” he confessed, staring up at the night sky. I shifted my attention to how the moonlight danced along his neck and jaw. “I never noticed anything off about Mrs. Marley, either.” A wave of relief washed over me at the thought that even Sebastian, who always seemed to notice everything, hadn’t picked up on anything unusual. “But after a while, it made sense.”
“What?” Confusion stopped me in my tracks, and I found myself staring at his back as he took three more strides before finally coming to a halt.
“It started to make sense that we didn’t pick up on her being sick.” I waited… waited until he spun around, expression tired and face contorting as he suppressed a yawn. “Because she was hiding it.”
I took a cautious step closer, the urge to bite the skin around my thumbnail creeping in. Sebastian seemed to notice, his gaze flicking to my hands just as they twitched. “That doesn’t add up.”
“It does, Gen. Just think about it.” He implored, his tone pushing me to consider it more deeply. I strained to understand why she would hide her pain, but the answer evaded me. “Why would she claim she wasn’t feeling well?”
“To get help?” I offered, the uncertainty evident in my voice.
Sebastian closed the gap between us. “Revealing her sickness, especially in front of Mr. Marley, would’ve just added more pain for him, and consequently, for her.”
“I… I don’t get it, Sebastian.” Frustration bubbled inside me, tightening my chest. Why hadn’t she said anything about how unwell she was? If we had known, we could have done something—anything—to help her. We could have tried to make her feel better, instead of being left in the dark.
“Gen,” his voice, smooth as ever, pulled me back to him after my gaze had drifted into the distance, my mind tangled in a whirlwind of thoughts. “Acknowledging her illness might have made her feel even worse. I think she was trying to convince herself that everything was okay.”
“But why?” I pressed, desperate for answers.
“Because if Mr. Marley had noticed she was feeling ill, he would’ve felt even worse about everything.” He was getting somewhat frustrated as his hands went to his head, running through his curls before they went back to the spot where they had been. “He was unwell, unable to do the things he used to, feeling the weight of his years bearing down on him. Most likely, he was wrestling with guilt over his declining health, drowning in thoughts of his wife handling everything on her own.”
Before I could interject, he pressed on. “Mrs. Marley understood him better than anyone. I’m sure she didn’t want to add to his burden; she wanted him to recover as quickly as possible. She couldn’t bear to see him confined to their bed.”
“So she concealed her illness even if it meant going through everything on her own?”
“To spare the person she loved the most from more pain? Yeah.” He said it like a matter of fact, like it was the normal thing to do. “Mr. Marley is left to carry the sorrow of losing the love of his life, but at least he doesn’t have the added burden of feeling responsible. I know he’ll still try to blame himself for her death, thinking it’s his fault for being sick, but she stopped him from those thoughts for some time. Thoughts that would have led him not to follow doctor’s orders and work around, having his health decline even more.”
“But what about her own feelings? Didn’t she suffer more by doing that?” He didn’t answer, resuming his stride, and I hurried to keep up. “Would you do that?”
The unexpected question made us both pause, and I noticed Sebastian flinch slightly before he resumed walking. “Of course, I would.”
“If it involved me, would you do it? Would you hide any pain or… something just to avoid hurting me?”
I didn’t like this question because I knew I wouldn’t like his answer.
“Without a doubt.”
“What about your own pain?” I asked, frustrated.
“It isn’t as important as protecting you from being hurt.”
I scoffed. “What if I did that too?” For a few seconds, his footsteps were the only sound as I paused, waiting for a reaction. “What if I hid my pain just to keep you safe and happy?”
His sudden halt elicited a sharp gasp from me. My heart raced, pounding against my chest and ribs as I anxiously waited for his next move.
He moved slowly, and our eyes locked as he swiftly closed the distance between us. “Listen, Gen,” his voice faltered, prompting him to take a deep breath to regain his composure before continuing. “If you ever feel the...” He sighed, lifting his gaze to the sky. Though the white glow of the moon obscured his features, I could sense the rapid blinking that betrayed his emotions. “If you ever feel even the slightest hint of pain…No matter how small it may seem, I want to—no, I need to know.”
His closeness wrapped me in the comforting scent I’d been missing all day. I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that one of his distinctive smells was sunscreen, even though he often forgot to put it on.
“Well,” I inhaled deeply, feeling a tickle in my nose that threatened to turn into tears. “I also need to know when you’re in pain.” His gaze, darker than ever, traced the line from one of my eyes to the other, then lowered to my mouth. This sequence repeated twice before he finally nodded.
“Come here.” I had no time to react or respond as his right hand slid behind my head, nudging me to step closer, while his left hand settled in the middle of my back. “Come here, Gen.” His voice quivered the moment his face vanished from view, and he pulled me into his chest, holding onto me as if afraid I might vanish into dust.
“Sebastian?” I tried to pull away from the hug, sensing his chest tremble and hearing sniffles above my head. Despite my efforts, he tightened his hold, cradling me against his chest, making it clear that his hug was more for himself than for me.
“It’s just been a tough day.” His response was straightforward, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Sebastian was masking his true emotions, likely to spare me from any unnecessary worry. Exactly what we had just been talking about.
The hug lingered for a long moment before we finally decided to continue our journey home, our hands tightly entwined. When we reached the front door of his cottage, he stopped me, almost desperately, keeping us from moving toward my house. The absurd thought of him not accompanying me flickered briefly in my mind before fading away.
“Text your sister.” He nodded toward my shorts, where my phone rested in one of the back pockets. “Tell her you’re too tired.” I furrowed my brow, but he continued, his gaze penetrating deep into what felt like my very soul. “I need you to stay here with me tonight, Geneviève.” The way he used my full name, paired with the gentle, intimate tone of his voice, sent a shiver down my spine. Without hesitation, though my fingers trembled and my heart raced, I followed his directive.
Chapter 14
Sebastian
Asneeze built slowly, the tickle in my nose impossible to ignore. I blinked against the morning light, groggy but aware of the irritant clinging to my face and sneaking into my mouth. My hand moved on instinct, brushing away a long strand of hair tangled around my throat, pulling me further from my sleep.
My eyes blinked open, adjusting to my surroundings. But as the haze lifted, I realised I wasn’t alone in bed.
It wasn’t the first time her hair had roused me from sleep or tangled around my neck during the night. It wasn’t the first time I’d woken up with her nestled against my side, her arms wrapped around her chest, her breath warming my skin. Nor was it the first time our legs were intertwined, ensuring we both retained the heat of each other’s bodies, even on sweltering summer nights.
But something felt different this time. Her arms weren’t folded neatly across her chest as usual. While one remained in place, the other lay draped around my lower waist, two fingers tucked inside the hem of my shorts. My heart quickened, and I swallowed hard before turning my gaze toward her, confirming if she was asleep.
“Shit.” The word broke from my lips, trembling with urgency.
Gen’s fingertips twitched over my skin in a manner I had never experienced before, sending shivers coursing through my body.
Despite trying to keep it together, my body gave in to her touch, completely drawn in by the way she unconsciously stroked my skin. Gosh. She was pressed up against me, wearing the oversized shirt and shorts I’d lent her the night before. As she shifted in her sleep, her fingers drifted from where they’d rested, now brushing the hem of my shorts before sliding lower as she stretched out, still lost in her dreams.
My mouth fell open in disbelief, diverting my attention to the ceiling, and I immediately berated myself as my hips arched higher, yearning for her touch. “What the fuck, Sebastian.” With an almost frantic movement, I sprang from the bed, fleeing from her with flushed cheeks and tousled hair.
As expected, Gen remained undisturbed, oblivious to my sudden departure, even as I moved as if the bed were in flames.
My body’s response wasn’t unexpected, but this time it was different; more intense. One quick glance at my shorts confirmed it, and I couldn’t help but be taken aback by just how strongly I was reacting.
Turning away, I made a beeline for one of my drawers, snatching the first pair of boxers and clothes I laid eyes on, eager to escape—or find refuge—in the bathroom.
“Seb?” A faint murmur caught my attention, drawing my gaze back to Gen. She was still sound asleep, her body curled into a tight ball, clutching the pillow I had used. The way she held it close to her chest made it seem like she was seeking comfort, her dark hair falling softly over her face. Watching her, I couldn’t help but notice the way her lips parted as she breathed, a peaceful expression settling over her features.
I did everything I could to shove the emotions aside, burying them deep in my mind, hoping they’d fade with time. But even the smallest thing—a glimpse of her, a passing thought, or just a trace of her scent—would pull them back to the surface, stronger than ever, making it harder and harder to keep them buried.
But there were other emotions I couldn’t escape, ones that kept me up at night. I’d sit in the corner of my bed, head in my hands, caught in a whirlwind of ‘what ifs’.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand, startling me. I quickly grabbed it, silencing the vibrations to avoid waking Gen. My pulse quickened when I saw it was a message from Reth Inoue. We’d exchanged a few emails about the apprenticeship—mostly details about travel and what I’d need to bring. But when he asked for my number, our conversations had become more relaxed. He sent me pictures of recipes he was trying, and I shared my own. Sometimes, he’d even throw in a funny baking-related meme.
Reth was a big deal in the baking world, and I still couldn’t believe I was getting the chance to learn from him. But these casual chats—where he didn’t come across as some untouchable expert—made everything feel more comfortable. It made the apprenticeship feel less intimidating, more like we were two people who simply shared a passion for baking.
